Computer systems are often used by a business enterprise to track customer transactions with the business enterprise for the purpose of encouraging future transactions by customers with the business enterprise. One way to do so is to use a computer system to track and aggregate information about transactions made by a customer and, when the customer has met a certain threshold of transaction activity, provide an entitlement to a reward to the customer. One example of an entitlement to a reward is an entitlement to a ticket for free airline transportation of a certain type after a customer has flown a predetermined number of miles with an airline. Another example of an entitlement to a reward is an entitlement to a credit toward a future purchase after a customer spends a certain amount of money on purchases or makes a certain number of purchases within a period of time. Generally, an entitlement to a reward occurs after a customer has participated in multiple transactions with a business enterprise. A reward may be provided to a customer in the form of a certificate that may be later redeemed by the customer to obtain a service, a product or a credit. In addition, a computer system also may be used by a business enterprise to process a certificate or other type of indication of an entitlement to a reward that is redeemed by a customer to obtain a reward.
More particularly, computer systems are often used to track customer transactions and progress of a customer toward an entitlement to a reward, which generally involves a determination as to the amount of reward credit that should be accrued to a customer for each transaction by the customer. Also, computer systems are used to issue an entitlement to a reward to a customer after the customer accrues the amount of reward credit necessary to be entitled to a reward and are used to process the reward credit when the reward credit is redeemed by the customer to obtain a reward. In addition, computer systems are often used to monitor and update entitlement data associated with a customer. One example is eliminating reward credit for a transaction after a certain amount of time has passed since the transaction occurred. For example, a computer system may be used to identify and eliminate “expired miles” that were accrued by a customer. Accrued miles are determined to be “expired” based on the passing of a specified number of years since the airline flight was taken by the customer.
There are many different types of customer reward programs that provide customer entitlements to rewards. A customer reward program also may be referred to as an entitlement program.